The year was 1986.
I was in grade school.

“There’s a revolution in Manila!” my mother said. Her voice sounded very worried.

“Loyalists won’t let them win it (the revolution),” my father replied.

I was a young girl then. I was a little afraid of what could happen but I was too young to grasp the severity of the situation. Of course, the loyalists were not able to “counter-attack.” A peaceful revolution happened and the Marcos family fled the Philippines in haste.

“So how was it during the 1980’s?” my daughter asked me.

My father adored Mr. Marcos and his son, Bongbong. He was impressed by Mr. Marcos’s strong leadership and intelligence. On the other hand, my mother welcomed Tita Cory and thought that maybe a change in leadership would be good for the country.

Kris Aquino was a bubbly teenager when I first saw her in See-True. She was free-spirited and charismatic. On the other hand, Ms. Imee Marcos projected a serious and intellectual character. It’s not to say that Kris was less intellectual; during those times, she was just having fun doing TV interviews and serious topics were not thrown at her during interviews.

Who would have thought that Noynoy would be P-noy two decades later? He was unassuming and he seemed to dislike the limelight then. On the contrary, Mr. Bongbong Marcos was confident and flamboyant.

I’ve always been interested about Irene Marcos but little is written about her; it’s always about Imee.

In the 80’s, red and yellow were two important colors because they were associated with either Marcos or Aquino. My mother loved to dress me in red and it caused me some trouble with my classmates who were maka-Cory.

“Ah, maka-Marcos ka ha! Makukulong ka,”my classmates would say.

I covered my face and cried. My teacher asked what the commotion was all about. My classmates told her I was wearing a red dress. (Friday is civilian day!) My teacher just laughed at us.

Even the flashing of “V” or “L” using our fingers became an issue then.

“How many papers do you need?” my classmate would ask.

“Two,” I would say while flashing the “V” sign.

“Maka-Marcos ka talaga! You should have said it like this (L-sign),” my classmate would say.

EDSA memories. It has been two decades pala. May kinapuntahan ba?